While both finger and facial images exist as images for processing and comparison, there are key differences between the two:                Fingerprint images are black and white while facial imagery can be color or black and white.        Fingerprints are caused by touching a surface (which stabilizes the capture) while facial images are captured with little or no control over the subject.        Finger details (ridge flows and minutia patterns) are a discrete type of image pattern whereas facial features vary widely across gender, race, age, hair, pose, lighting, facial obstructions, etc.        There are many accepted courses and career tracks for the training of fingerprint examiners, whereas there are no current public courses for the training of facial examiners.        
Human examiners can be presented with facial images for comparisons in two distinct ways:                Computer based algorithms can be used to produce a list of candidates for review after searching a probe image. This is referred to as “Facial Recognition” or FR.        Two images can be manually selected for review.        
In both cases, it is up to the human facial examiner to analyze the two images and produce a final decision whether the person in both images is of the same person. This process has several commonly used definitions:                Facial Examination (FE): A formal systematic examination of two facial images to determine if the same person is shown in both images. An example of this systematic examination technique, broadly accepted for use in fingerprint examinations, is called ACE-V (Analysis, Comparison, Evaluation, and Verification).        Facial Identification (FI): The human-based examination of the similarities and differences between two facial images with the goal of determining if the same person is shown in both.        
In any current operational environment using facial biometrics, the act of the FI is where a human facial examiner (or a group of examiners working together) is responsible for making a decision as to whether the same person is shown in two distinct images being compared.